Before Australia goes to the polls this weekend in a federal election, I will be visiting Australia House in London to cast my away vote. I will do so because I strongly believe that everyone who can vote, should.

We can spend all day chastising young people for failing to vote in a referendum; or we can accept that they need an extra shove

But even if I didn’t believe so strongly in political participation, I would still be making the trip to The Strand to put some numbers in boxes. Why? Because if I don’t vote, the Australian Government will come after me – and if you’re a fan of the TV programme Border Security, you will know that this isn't much fun.

Under Australian election law it is compulsory for all eligible Australian citizens to enrol and vote in federal elections, by-elections and referendums. After each election, all apparent non-voters are sent a letter demanding that they pay a $20 penalty or provide a valid and sufficient reason for failing to vote.

Valid reasons include being involved in an accident or being diverted on the way to the polling station by public duty, e.g. to save a person's life. They do not include disliking or not knowing enough about the available choice of candidates.

If non-voters fail to pay the fine or give a valid reason, they can end up in court facing a fine of up to $180, plus court costs. This is where it gets even more interesting: if the person then fails to pay the fine, it is within the court’s jurisdiction to record a criminal conviction and throw them in jail.

Yep, that’s right. Not voting can land you a stay in the clink.

As a result, Australia has an unusually high voter turnout: 93.34 per cent at the 2013 federal election.

It does not entirely fix the problem of low youth turn out – a quarter of eligible voters aged 18-24 did not enrol in time for this weekend’s Australian election.

And the number of spoilt ballots for the Australian House of Representatives is on the rise, hitting 5.9 per cent in 2013, with about half of those considered deliberate “donkey votes”. Despite these factors, Australia’s turnout is vastly higher than the UK's.

The turnout for the 2015 general election was the highest in 18 years – attributed to the sunny weather – and was still only 66.1 per cent.